Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 66 of PKL 5

Day 66 of the Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5 witnessed the brilliance of Rishank Devadiga as he led the UP Yoddha to a stunning 53-32 win over the struggling Jaipur Pink Panthers in the Inter-zone wildcard contest at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday. Devadiga absolutely stole the show with a performance of a lifetime, breaking the hearts of the home crowd and making a memorable night for his team.

Here are the major talking points from tonight’s game:

#1 Rishank Devadiga creates history

Rishank Devadiga of the UP Yoddha just etched his name in the record books with a thunderously spectacular performance. His incredible 28-point haul made him the raider with the highest number of raid points across all five seasons of the PKL.

This was the first time he was saddled with the responsibility of captaining his team in the absence of Nitin Tomar and what a fabulous outing it was for him!

Devadiga broke records galore like it was child’s play and all the while, made it look so effortless and easy. Out of 27 raid attempts, he scored in 19, left seven raids empty and was tackled just once!

Belligerent and devastating, Devadiga was all sorts of lethal for the opponent defenders, who huffed and puffed to keep him under control. That is evident from the fact that he scored four Super Raids on the night.

Rishank made his intentions very clear when he started off with a Super Raid. By the 11th minute of the game, he already had a Super 10. By the end of the first half, he had 15 raid points in his kitty which was the maximum raid points bagged by any PKL raider in the first half of any match.

He got to 28 in a mind-boggling fashion when he was trapped by the Jaipur defenders but managed to successfully wriggle out of the pack and touch the mid-line, causing a Super Raid. That took him past the 24 points record of Pardeep Narwal and Kashiling Adake.